Beatriz, a failed psychologist, flees to her childhood home to escape fraud charges, only to discover that her quirky aunt has turned the estate into a high school. What seems at first a terrible surprise will in fact help her finally find a fulfilling path in life as an unconventional theatre instructor.

Spain, 1966: Antonio is a teacher and a Beatles fan, facets he combines by getting his pupils to recite the lyrics from Help in English class. When he learns that his idol John Lennon is making a film in Almeria, he resolves to meet him. On the journey he picks up two young runaways: Bethlehem, a pregnant girl fleeing a convent, and Juanjo, a boy escaping a dictatorial father.

Based on Bégaudeau's semi-autographical book Entre Les Murs (Between the Walls) "The Class" dramatizes a year in the life of a middle school in an immigrant heavy, multiracial neighborhood in Paris. The students are also nonprofessionals, and classroom sessions were improvised from workshops around specific themes. The documentary-approach to the filming puts the lie to the one-teacher-can-make-a-difference myth propagated by so many other films...